along the line, I bought into the lie that it was what I wanted. I was wrong. It was what you wanted for me…no, it was what you wanted for yourself. But I realized that I need to try something else. Something new. I want to build something.”
“You can build businesses here,” his father said, panic in his voice. “We talked about this. The acquisitions.” It was clear, in spite of everything, that his father had never intended for Connor to leave the business for the long-term. This had all been a petty attempt to keep him in line. To remind Connor how much he owed.
Connor shook his head. “Not as long as you’re still here. We don’t have the same vision or set of ethics on how to treat family and employees. And even if we could somehow get past that, I wouldn’t come back as long as Cameron is still here. He crossed a line this weekend, and I’ll never be able to trust him. I won’t work in a situation where my every move is questioned. To be honest, even if you told me that you would retire today with no provisions for my uncle, it still wouldn’t be enough. This isn’t what I want to do.”
“So, you’re really going to quit and walk away from all this over a woman?” Incredulity etched his father’s face.
“No, I’m going to resign because I want something more for myself. This whole thing with the distillery, with Cameron, and you staying on…it just made me realize that it isn’t what I want.”
“And what do you want, son?”
Connor’s chest squeezed at the affectionate term that had come too late to be of any value. “The truth is, I don’t know. Something smaller, I think.”
“And the Dyer girl? Do you want her, too?”
Connor grinned. He knew the answer to that question. “Please. Call her Emerson. And I do, more than anything. The jury is still out on if we’ll be able to get past this. Cameron’s trick may have done irreparable damage.”
His father paused. A long, deep sigh escaped his lips. “I’ll find out who broke into your office and mailed that to the Dyer—to Emerson.”
“Thanks, Dad. Look, I’m sorry to leave you in the lurch. I’ll make sure I do a proper handoff. And if you decide to act on replacing Cameron, I’ll help find a replacement.”
Donovan looked crestfallen. Losing his son, and potentially his brother, wouldn’t be an easy burden to bear. “Was she happy?”
“Emerson? No, she was pissed and tore me a new one.”
His father smiled sadly. “I meant Rebecca. Did Paul give her a good life?”
Connor’s heart ached for his father for a moment. In the early hours that very morning, he’d felt a sense of panic that he’d not be able to make things right with Emerson. To feel that way for the rest of his life would be horrific. “Yeah, Dad. He did. They were good together. Loved each other. Loved their kids. And Paul never attempted to find another woman after Rebecca died. Emerson told me he once said that he’d had his one chance at true love with Rebecca and that he’d never been able to get his head around replacing her.”
Donovan swallowed deeply. “Good,” he said gruffly. “That’s good.”
A realization hit Connor. What was it his mother had said when he’d spoken with her about their divorce?
I always felt like I was second fiddle. I sometimes think he married me on the rebound from that darn distillery. And the way he threw himself into his work at that time left him with no time or energy for me, or for us. He was a husband and father in name only.
It wasn’t the business he’d rebounded from. It was Rebecca Dyer. His mother would never need to know.
“I’m sorry, Dad. About Rebecca. I get it. I worry Emerson isn’t going to get over this.”
Silence settled over the room. He wondered what Emerson was doing right now. She was his next stop, but he knew he couldn’t go see her until he’d righted this part of his life, this part of his story, first. He needed her to know that she had nothing to worry about from his motivations.
All he wanted was to love her.
“I suppose I should meet her at some point,” Donovan said eventually.
Connor stood. “I’d like that, Dad. You’ll really like her. From what I’ve heard, she’s very much like her mother.”
His father stood and walked over to him, reaching for his